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Truman Seymour
|died= |image= |caption= |placeofbirth= Burlington, Vermont |placeofdeath= Florence, Italy |placeofburial= |placeofburial_label= Place of burial |allegiance= United States of America Union |branch= United States Army Union Army |serviceyears= 1846–76 |rank= Major General |unit= |commands= |battles= Mexican-American War *Battle of Contreras *Battle of Churubusco Third Seminole War American Civil War *Battle of Fort Sumter *Peninsula Campaign *Second Battle of Bull Run *Maryland Campaign *Battle of Olustee *Battle of the Wilderness *Siege of Petersburg *Appomattox Campaign |awards= |relations= |laterwork= Painter }} Truman Seymour (September 24, 1824 – October 30, 1891) was an a career soldier and an accomplished painter. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. He commanded the Union troops at the Battle of Olustee, the largest Civil War battle fought in Florida. Early life and career Seymour was born in Burlington, Vermont. The son of a Methodist minister, he attended Norwich University for two years before enrolling at the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating in 1846, he was assigned to the 1st U.S. Artillery. He served in the Mexican-American War in 1846. During the war, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant for his performance in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. After returning to the United States following the war, he was an assistant professor of drawing at West Point from 1850 to 1853 and fought against the Seminoles in Florida from 1856 to 1858. He was promoted to captain on November 22, 1860. Civil War When the Civil War began in 1861, Seymour participated in the defense against the Confederate assault on Fort Sumter, after which he received the brevet of major. Major Seymour commanded the 5th U.S. Artillery and the U.S. Camp of Instruction at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from December 1861 to March 1862. He was Chief of Artillery for General George A. McCall's division of Pennsylvania Reserves from March 6, 1862, until July 25, 1862. He became a brigadier general of volunteers on April 28, 1862. Seymour served in the Army of the Potomac's V Corps during the Peninsula Campaign of April–July 1862. He commanded the left wing of the Reserves at Mechanicsville on June 26, Gaines' Mill on June 27, Glendale on June 30 and led the division at Malvern Hill on July 1 after McCall was captured at the Battle of Glendale. After the Peninsula Campaign, the Pennsylvania Reserves joined the III Corps of the Army of Virginia, later I Corps in the Army of the Potomac. Seymour performed well at the battles of Second Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam in the latter half of 1862, especially in his brigade's capture of Turner's Gap, Maryland, on September 14. Seymour took command of the Reserves after Brig. Gen. George G. Meade became acting corps commander. He received the brevet from the regular army of lieutenant colonel after South Mountain and that of colonel after Antietam. After November 18, 1862, General Seymour was sent to the Department of the South where he served as chief of staff to the commanding general from January 8 to April 23, 1863. He led a division on Folly Island, South Carolina, on July 4, participated in the attack on Morris Island on July 10, and commanded the unsuccessful attack on Fort Wagner on July 18. Seymour gained notoriety for this controversial attack. He was also seriously wounded there and saw little field duty for the rest of 1863. The Battle of Olustee Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, commanding general of the Department of the South, placed Seymour in charge of the newly created District of Florida. The division made an expedition to Florida in February 1864, landing at and taking possession of Jacksonville. Subsequently, Gillmore returned to South Carolina and left Seymour in tactical command. On February 20, Seymour’s force of about 5,500 men met a Confederate force of about 5,000, commanded by Brigadier General Joseph Finegan. The battle took place near the town of Olustee, about 40 miles west of Jacksonville. The ensuing battle produced some of the heaviest losses, by percentage, of any major battle of the war. Although Seymour’s division inflicted nearly 1,000 casualties, it received nearly 2,000 in return. General Seymour’s force returned, defeated, to Jacksonville, where Union troops retained control until the war ended. The last year of the war After Olustee, General Seymour retained command of the District of Florida until March 28, 1864. He then returned to Virginia and led Robert H. Milroy's former brigade as part of the Third Division of VI Corps in the Battle of the Wilderness that May. He was captured there in a flank attack by Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon, as was Brig. Gen. Alexander Shaler. After his exchange on August 9, Seymour took command of the Third Division of VI Corps, after James B. Ricketts was wounded, in the last stages of the Shenandoah Valley and the final battles of Petersburg, the Sayler's Creek, and the Appomattox Campaign. He was present at General Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865. After the capture of Petersburg, he received the brevet of major general of volunteers and the brevet of brigadier general of the United States Army, both to date from March 13, 1865. Postbellum career After the war ended, Seymour stayed in the Army. He served again in the 5th Artillery, and later commanded forts in Florida, Fort Warren, Massachusetts (1869–70), and Fort Preble, Maine (1870–75). He retired from the army on November 1, 1876. He received the degree of A.M. from Williams College in 1865. Seymour spent his retirement in Europe. He painted much in watercolor, and died while living in Florence, Italy. He was buried there in the Cimitero Evangelico degli Allori. See also *List of American Civil War generals External links *Union Generals *General Seymour and the Battle of Olustee *American Artists Bluebook Category:1824 births Category:1891 deaths Category:Norwich University alumni Category:United States Military Academy alumni Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Category:Union Army generals Category:People of Vermont in the American Civil War Category:American painters Category:American Civil War prisoners of war Category:Pennsylvania Reserves Category:People from Burlington, Vermont de:Truman Seymour